Pink Peppercorn Strawberry Trifle

Written by:

Prep time:

6 hour30 min

Cook time:

45 min

Total time:

7 hour 15 min

Portion/Yield:

Serves 6

Difficulty:

Intermediate

This dessert screams summer in a jar. I love a good trifle, this recipe is a variation on the traditional. Fundamentally the same principles are followed with a layer of jelly, custard, crunchy bits and fresh fruits.

I have made the jelly from scratch using fresh strawberries. I know it’s easy to simply buy ready made jelly, but this method captures the freshness for the fruits and I have the opportunity to add an additional flavour of the pink peppercorns.

The custard is made and then dispensed via cream whipper, with the gas aerate the custard and the result is almost a moose like texture. This dessert is perfect to show off to your friends and or family at a special dinner party. All the components can be made in advance and you can finish it in front of your guest for the extra wow factor.

Ingredients & Method

For the Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Jelly

250g very ripe strawberries, hulled and cut in 1/4's

60g icing sugar

2 large sprigs of thyme

½ tsp pink peppercorns, crushed

100ml water

2 leaves of gelatine, bloomed

For the Thyme and Honey Custard

300ml milk

100ml double cream

1 large sprig of thyme

2 tablespoons clear runny honey

6 large free-range egg yolks

2 leaves gelatine, bloomed

For the Strawberry Salad

8 large strawberries, hulled

1 tsp honey

Pinch of course sea salt

Pinch of fresh chopped thyme

For the Pink Peppercorn Crumb Garnish

1 slice of brioche

1 tbs dehydrated strawberry nibs

½ tsp pink peppercorns, crushed

1tbs fresh chopped thyme

First prepare the jelly, strawberries in ¼ ‘s. Place the strawberries with the rest of the ingredients, except the gelatine, in a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cover the metal bowl with cling film. Let the strawberries cook over the simmering water for 30 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Pass the strawberry juice through a fine sieve. Heat a bit of the strawberry juice in a small saucepan and then add the bloomed gelatine, remove from the heat and stir to dissolve. Add the rest of the strawberry juice to the gelatine mixture, mix and pass through a fine sieve into the chosen jars/ dessert glasses and set in the fridge for 6 hours.

In the meantime make the custard. Heat the cream, milk and thyme in a medium saucepan over medium heat to just before boiling point. Let the cream infuse for 5 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks and honey, pass the warm cream though a fine sieve and then add half of this to the egg yolk mix, whisk and return the egg yolk mix to the pan with the rest of the infused cream over low heat, stir continuously and cook until the custard thickens and is cooked but do not boil, remove the pan from the heat, add the bloomed gelatine and whisk to dissolve, pass the custard through a fine sieve. Pour the custard into a cream whipper and charge with two gas pellets shake vigorously and let the custard cool completely about 4 – 5 hours.

In the meantime prepare the pink peppercorn garnish and the strawberry salad. For the crumb garnish toast the brioche under the grill until golden brown and crispy, set aside to cool. Chop the toast into fine breadcrumbs add the dehydrated strawberry nibs, crushed pink peppercorns and chopped thyme. Set aside until needed.

For the strawberry salad, wash, hull and cut the strawberries in slices. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix lightly and set aside to macerate at room temperature.

To serve, spoon the strawberry salad onto the set jelly in the serving glasses, add a few sprinkles of the crumb garnish, shake the cream whipper with the custard and squirt the custard on top and finally garnish with more crumbs. Serve immediately.